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- 🚀 The $112M failure of Winc wine
🚀 The $112M failure of Winc wine
+ the $20M a month soda business 🔥
Guy Ligertwood & Farzan Maghami
October 14, 2023
Hi Guy & Farzan here 👋
Today, we cover founder stories with beer, wine, soda and ice cream. Let’s go.
Read time: 10 mins
In the mail:
Founder story: The unique founder story of Bob Hawke’s beer 🍺
Founder playbook: The $112M failure of the Winc wine business 😬
Video playbook: The $20M/month soda business 🔥
Video playbook: The $300K a day ice cream business 💪
Video short: Some solid Elon advice ⚡️
A quote: Some founder rules from Greg Isenberg 😎
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1. Founder story
🍺 See how Nathan and David's genius idea led them to start a beer company with the Aussie legend Bob Hawke.
🍻 "Creativity is intelligence having fun"
This is echoed by Nathan Lennon, co-founder of Hawke's Brewing Co., as he reflected on a journey that began with surfing dreams and led to pouring pints with a purpose alongside Aussie icon Bob Hawke.
🔍 Nathan’s journey to beer
From scribbling stories in Sydney's sands to shaping brands in NYC's advertising arenas, Nathan's path was anything but linear. But it was a serendipitous snowstorm and a shared longing for home that brewed the idea of Hawke's Brewing with co-conspirator David Gibson.
🚀 Not only about beer
Their entrepreneurial journey wasn't just about crafting quality beer. It was about encapsulating the Aussie spirit in every sip, giving back through their partnership with Landcare Australia.
🌟 Hiring amazing folk
Their ride had its highs and lows, learning the hard truth that "brewing success" needed more than a love for lagers. It demanded hiring minds brighter than theirs and embracing failures.
❗️ One vital lesson they share:
"Keep going, but be kind to yourself and others along the way. Because the journey of a founder is a marathon, not a sprint.”
👀 Read more
Dive into the full saga of resilience, beers, and tears behind Hawke's Brewing Co. on Founderoo.
2. Founder playbook
😬 The surprising failure of Winc: What Founders can learn from a $112 Million wine box subscription business
Ever heard of a $112 million business filing for bankruptcy? Winc, the trailblazing wine box subscription venture, did just that. Their journey wasn't just about fine wines; it was a concoction of innovation, daring decisions, and unforeseen market swirls.
🌱 Start-Up
Winc differentiated itself with a unique "Ideate, Launch, Amplify" framework, shaking up the wine industry.
🚀 Growth
Their asset-light model, focusing more on marketing than manufacturing, seemed like the secret sauce for a time.
🧩 Challenges
But, like a delicate wine balance, their reliance on external production partners and heavy shipping costs started souring the business notes.
💥 Pandemic Impact
COVID-19, the uninvited guest at every table in 2020, disrupted their operations like a cork popping unexpectedly.
💔 Bankruptcy
Despite the innovative model, Winc's journey had to decant into bankruptcy, leaving behind rich, educative residue.
🔥 Lesson Alert
Winc’s story isn't just about a company; it's a masterclass in the entrepreneurial journey. One takeaway? Know your industry inside out. The wine world is a complex mix of consumer behaviour, logistics, and fierce competition. Understanding this ecosystem is more crucial than the product itself.
3. Video playbook
🔥 Olipop: The $20M a month drink business
Olipop has rapidly ascended to fame in the bustling soda industry, worth billions, thanks to its nutritious prebiotic soda. The brains behind this triumph are none other than founders Ben Goodwin and David Lester. Discover the journey of how a modest $100,000 investment blossomed into a soda empire valued in the millions.
4. Video playbook
💪 How Ben built a $300K a day ice cream business
"Journey from one truck to an ice cream empire! Join us as we delve into the 15-year adventure of Van Leeuwen Ice Cream, scaling from a humble ice cream truck to a coast-to-coast sensation of delight! At the heart of this creamy revolution is the mastermind co-founder and CEO, Ben Van Leeuwen. Discover how his relentless vision of freshness and unrivalled quality is churning up a storm in the ice cream world!
5. Video short
⚡️ Some solid Elon advice for entrepreneurs
You might be bored of Elon advice, but he knows his stuff and is hard to ignore, whether you like him or not.
6. A quote on founder rules from Greg Isenberg 😎
- Pay your invoices fast. People appreciate it.
- Recurring meetings are mostly useless.
- Your best internet ideas come when you are off the internet.
- You need 1000 bad ideas to get to 1 good idea.
- Be a rifle not a shotgun. Rifles are targeted, shotguns aren't. The internet rewards targeted products.
- Buy the ticket, take the chance. My best opportunities came from hopping on a plane to meet someone.
- Build communities to avoid reliance on ads.
- We’re all in the trust business. Do things that make people trust you - 100% passive income from startups doesn’t exist.
- Be the creator or partner with the creator but always have a creator involved.
- Celebrate all wins, little and big.
- Everyone with an internet connection can build an empire.
- Be proud or what you're doing or don't do it.
- The best ideas are capital light, defendable, have network effects & increased demand .
- You can take over your world, not the world. Gotta start somewhere niche.
- If you can turn your jealousy of others into inspiration of others, you instantly become more productive.
- Work with people who will be fun to work with.
- The most important decision you can make on any given day to be productive: ignore the noise.
- "You can get what you want - if you help enough other people get what they want.”
- Sometimes you need to overdose on caffeine, put some headphones on and ship your heart out.
- Drum to your own beat.
- And the most important one: Enjoy what you're doing!
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See you next Sunday
Guy + Farzan 👋
FounderooThe $112
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